Google Launched First 64-bit Chrome Web Browser For OS X

In August of this year, Google launched a beta build of 64-bit Chrome for Mac, following the public release of 64-bit Chrome for Windows. And now after several months of testing, lately Google has launched Chrome 39, its first 64-bit browser for Apple’s OS X operating system.

Chrome 39, specifically designated as Chrome 39.0.2171.65, is the first stable build for OS X to support 64-bit processes, promising faster startup times and better memory management features. With Chrome 39, Google is dropping 32-bit support altogether, meaning owners of older Intel-based Macs will be stuck with Chrome 38. OS X aside, Chrome 39 has brought a slew of new developer features. Here is what Google highlighted in the beta release:

JavaScript Generators: ES6 Generators allow developers to create iterators that pause their execution after yielding a value, and resume again when later invoked. The goal is to simplify the process of developing asynchronous code and reduce dependence on callback functions.

Web Animation Playback Control: Web Animations, a new API that shipped in Chrome 36 with basic support, now has playback control, including the methods play(), pause(), and reverse(), as well as the ability to jump to a specific point in an animation’s timeline.

Web Application Manifests: Starting in Chrome 39, Manifests let developers wrap metadata about a Web application into a single file, reducing duplication and saving a bit of bandwidth. Adding apps to the homescreen is as easy as defining a title, landing page, default orientation, and multiple icons depending on size and screen density.

The Beacon API lets developers queue asynchronous network requests that will be sent regardless of whether the user navigates to a new page.